Life Story Guidelines

FILM

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Humanity has been telling itself stories for tens of thousands of years.

It’s used whatever is available to it; its mouths, its hands, its bodies. It’s done it with styli, with pens, chisels, Sharpies, on papyrus, in cuneiform,

in Linear A & B, hieroglyphs and runes, on clay tablets, on wax, on

vellum, on paper, on wood and on mobile phone screens. Sometimes

it’s done it by PowerPoint. I know. The overwhelming canon of

mankind’s finest work is not to be found on celluloid. Only in the last

few years, relatively, has film been used as a medium. And, to this day, a

great many more bad films have been made than good ones.

Films are expensive, sometimes messy and shrouded (usually by those

who make them) in arcane terminology and costs. There is still a guild

for technicians and camera men. Technically, if I mess with their cable

ties, they are entitled to walk off and leave me in a Mexican stand-off

with an irate Sri Lankan farmer and her cows. I’d still have to pay them

the day’s work, too.

Now read on.

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU BEGIN

WHY A FILM?

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It’s a good idea, first up, to consider why film is the appropriate medium for your message. Why are you making a video? What is it about the

strait-jacket of a film that suits your content? What is it about your brief

that ensures a good film? Who’s going to watch it? Why can’t it be told as a prose narrative, a blog, a case study, a graph, an infographic? If your

subject matter doesn’t lend itself to expression as a film, we are probably doing it a disservice.

Making decent collateral is all about impact. Collateral serves no

purpose without it having an effect on the minds of those who consume

it. We’re not here to fill up YouTube or, indeed, measure how quickly we are filling up YouTube. Our programmatic aims are served by clearly

explaining what we do, why we do it (and whom it serves) to those

members of our audiences most likely to take up the ball and run with it.

Having said all this, there are certain things that films do much better

than some other media. For a start, you get to see the subject talking.

You get to see the context. You get to see actual humans talking to each,

in real time. You get to see people giggling at the impertinence of my

questions. I could write a report detailing the beta-testing of an Agri VAS

in remote Tanzania. But you wouldn’t see the actual field the farmers are working in, you wouldn’t see their faces. You wouldn’t see the emotions passing over the canvas of their faces as they as answer a

question on basic connectivity and the time and money savings it’s

affording them. It’s compelling stuff, and confers an immediacy that’s almost unrivalled. It can come across as real and honest and memorable.

It’s also able to watched anywhere, for an unlimited time and with no re-

print costs. Useful.

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Let’s not get into the question of editing and post-production. When you

watch a good film you only think of these things afterwards. While

you’re watching, you’ve engaged at least three of your senses and this

somehow tricks the mind into accepting that what is playing out in front

of it is indubitably real - disbelief, for a time at least, tends largely to be

suspended.

HOW TO MAKE A LIFE STORIES FILM

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Although this document aims to provide some technical guidelines about

how to physically record a Life Story video, it’s worth pointing out that the leg-work of making a good film needs to be done before you leave

the office. The subject, and the subject’s unique stories and perspective will govern whether the final outcome is a success or not. To this end,

we recommend using your contacts from service deployments, NGOs -

or anybody else - who can point you in the direction of, and provide

access to, great interviewees. Support with organising these, or tip-

disbursal, will happen on a project-by-project basis. Please come to

speak to us.

However, it’s true to say that all of you, will, at some stage, be on field or

research trips in the remotest and most interesting parts of the globe.

Whilst there, you will be meeting VAS pioneers and their beneficiaries

and generally getting involved in the rich tapestry of life in remote

communities. Some of these trips will lend themselves beautifully to the

gathering of filmic Life Stories.

Happily, here’s where we can help. Mobile for Development has acquired for itself an HD Video Camera and a separate digital audio

recorder and microphone. By careful research, and powered by a

solipsist’s impulse never to be found out; we selected ones that, once

set up, are fairly simple to use.

Each of your projects will be unique and will require a bespoke approach

to things like question framing, topics and scripting. These, the Mobile

for Development marketing team can surely help you with. They aren’t suitable for a generalised document like this one. So, now, I’m going to give you a crash course in how to use the camera and microphone. It’s really not that intimidating. I’ve had a film company configure them for our needs, so, just as long as no one starts twiddling dials for fun or

accidentally dropping things into unforgiving swamps, we should be fine.

If that does happen, call us and we’ll tell you where all the twiddly knobs should go.

THE KIT – OVERVIEW

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Essentially we have an HD video camera (that also takes excellent still

photography) and digital audio recorder which should be connected to

the boom microphone. This is the thing that looks like a cat has reversed

onto a baddy’s pistol and decided that enough was enough. The thing that connects the microphone to the recorder is called a balanced XLR

cable. It just needs to be plugged into the single socket marked ‘MONO’( fig 4). Once that has been done, and the recorder contains working

batteries and the settings are un-molested, you need only press ‘Record’ (fig 3 and 1) on both to capture a video and a separate audio track using

these two devices.

THE CAMERA

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This is a Canon EOS 7D. I don’t know either. It’s all been set up. Wherever possible, please use the supplied tripod. It makes things

significantly easier and keeps wobbles out of the picture. I’ve used it on

a 3-in-1 slope in a field, being nuzzled by a goat and it was fine. Just

adjust the telescopic legs accordingly and use the spirit level gauge near

the camera mount to check all is straight.

Assuming your batteries are charged, and there is a memory card in it

(both supplied), simply turn the camera on (see fig.1) and ensure the

switch is on the red film camera and not the white, stills camera image.

Now you need to point it at your subject.

FRAMING

All of our Life Stories are tightly framed. This means we only record the

subject’s head as they speak. Background will be visible in the HD view-

finder oblong, but out of focus. Why do we do this? Because most

people, even CEOs in Canary Wharf (and I’ve filmed some of them) tend to fidget around nervously on camera, even under the gentlest

questioning. One chap actually failed to pronounce his own name for

three takes. If you closely frame the head, you don’t see them plucking desperately at their own trousering, or gesturing weakly for help, like

cherubs caught in an oil slick. It lends the subject more dignity and

removes any extraneous detail.

In order to frame people nicely, you’ll need to adjust the lens’ zoom dial

(see fig 2) until there is a smidgen of gap between their chin and their

hair-do in your view finder. Basically, fill the screen with their head.

Once you’ve done this, make sure they are roughly in focus by using the manual focus dial on the lens (see fig 2).

Now, ensure the tripod is steady by double checking the spirit level and,

whilst the head is centre frame, hit ‘AF’ on the back of the camera. This is auto focus. It will correct any mild discrepancies in your manual auto-

focus. You are now nearly good to go.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The HD Camera is also set up to take excellent photographs. Flick the

switch over onto the white camera icon and off you go (fig 1). The

button to take pictures is on top on the right. Whatever you do, don’t press it during filming (fig 2). The AF button also works for photos. Look

at something, zoom appropriately, hit AF and wait for the finder to flash

green, then press the photo button.

‘LOOKING SPACE’

When you frame your shot, the head will now occupy most of the

screen. But where do you want it in the shot? This depends on where

the interviewer (often the camera person) is standing. Once you’ve focused and zoomed, step half a pace away from the tripod, laterally. If

you step to the left, you need to ensure the subject’s head is positioned

to the right of shot. The empty space in the shot is called ‘Looking Space’. The subject, when answering the question should NEVER be looking down the lens. They should be looking at you. This empty space

to the left of the shot is where you stand, in reality, whilst speaking to

them. If you get this wrong, the subject will be on the edge of shot,

looking off shot, and will tend to appear very distracted and weird.

Cf my fifth wedding video.

LIGHTING

The camera is good, but if you go anywhere even vaguely dark, or dusky,

it will struggle. We don’t have any lighting equipment. It’s expensive, heavy, and largely unnecessary, if you think. Try to ensure you film in

places lit by natural or electric light. As a general rule, you want the light

source to be shining directly onto the subject’s face. Filming inside huts, houses and after the gloaming WILL NOT WORK. Also, never have the

light source behind the subject. You’ll just get a disconcerting halo and a

silhouette. Have the light hitting their faces.

DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDER

You will need to hold the ‘Dead Cat’ microphone, pistol-grip in your

hand. The end of the microphone should be pointed at the subject’s mouth. It is a narrow-field, directional microphone. Imagine a very slim,

two metre cone emitting from the tip of the microphone. This is the

sound field that it records. It means that, even outside, with cows and

trees and trucks, the microphone will only record what’s in that narrow cone. This is why you need it to point directly at their mouth.

When you are in position, first hit ‘Record’ on the Marantz audio recorder. Then hit ‘Record’ on the camera. A track name will come up on the Marantz, eg, 1098. Say it out loud and then clap once, loudly.

The camera microphone is also running, but it is v susceptible to

background noise. By clapping, you give the post production people a

‘clipped’ noise spike, which allows them to synchronise the video track in a perfect timeline with the separate audio track from the recorder.

They can then perfectly sync the video file with the numbered audio

track for mixing.

Once you’ve clapped, you can begin asking your questions. Both devices are now recording. It doesn’t matter in which order you turn them off. Just don’t forget them and leave them in a ditch.

Well lit:

Badly lit:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig.3

Fig. 4

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS

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When putting your questions together, always keep in mind the SHAPE

of the conversation you want to have. You should be holding in mind the

flow of the final film when you draft the interview questions. The film

needs to describe an arc. All of your questions should, WITHOUT FAIL, fit

into a section of this arc.

Ideally this will go:

CONTEXT: Name, age, location, employment details, family

situation, years with phone access.

CONTRAST: Life ‘pre’ and ‘post’ access to mobile. What’s the difference? What are the benefits? How do they actually USE it?

Does it save time or money? What other benefits has it

conferred? How is life different now they use a mobile VAS?

How many of their friends /family/community also have a

phone? How would they get the outcomes provided by the

mobile/ mobile VAS before they had a mobile? How would they

send money home, get agronomy or health advice? Ask them to

tell you how they did it historically and how they do it now.

ANECDOTES: These cover people speaking naturally about how

they’ve used mobile to solve a problem or to improve an issue. These are really important as they often illustrate succinctly how

mobile, or mobile services have positively benefitted a person’s life and underline the theory of change that we are all working

towards.

PAY OFF: Here, we are looking for people saying definitively that

mobile has made things easier/better/more secure because….. this should be pithy so ask them to repeat if necessary.) Ask

them what types of information or service, in an ideal world,

would they like to be able to receive via their phones? You never

know; their answer might end up founding the next M4D

programme.

APOCRYPHA AND MISCELLANY

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TIPS: Don’t be afraid to ask people to repeat their answers. Often the first answer rambles a bit as people are framing their thoughts on camera.

Remember to LISTEN. Think about the most important bits of what they’ve said, repeat them back to them and then say “That was brilliant. Can you say all that again but in a shorter version?”

GAPS: Always try to leave a 3-5 second gap between each question and after

they have finished speaking. It helps massively with editing things together

afterwards and precludes the necessity of cutting people off mid-flow. This

looks bad and leaves us open to accusations of prescriptive editing to suit

our purposes. Silence is often golden.

TRANSLATORS: If you are using a translator, ask them please not to talk

over the subject. Three people talking at once is a post-production

nightmare. You ask the question, the translator translates the question,

the subject responds, the translator translates the response. This is the

order. Translators make the filming much longer, obviously. Also, their

integrity is vital. Otherwise we again leave ourselves open to charges of

agendas and bias.

TRANSLATORS - Continued: It’s a good idea to get the translator’s script re-transposed by a specialist external firm, after the event – even if it’s only the snippets we are using for the final cut. We’ve got some contacts here, should you need them.

BATTERIES: Make sure you take batteries with you. Buying them from

market stalls in the developing world tends to ensure that the device

konks out after 90 seconds in the middle of nowhere.

OTHER PROGRAMMES: Where possible, try to ask some questions that

may be of use to other programmes. If you are filming a MECS

deployment and discover that a village elder has just started, for

example, using a mobile money service, do feel free to ask about that

too. It’s good practice to ask the other teams about activity in the area where you are filming before you set out.

AMBIENT SHOTS: One of the things which are really useful when it

comes to post-production or cutting composite films together is a

sequence of contextual shots. These need only last 5-10 seconds. Try

filming a bit more of village life, or local markets or the surrounding

area. They also provide a useful, textual contrast between the talking

heads. Set the tripod up and take let your trigger fingers go wild.

ASK A GURU: Before the first tranche of Life Stories were gathered, we

were careful to ask our two resident experts, Per Helmersen and Kyla

Reid. Between them, they have many degrees, not to mention extensive

field experience of conducting professional ethno-anthropological

research in the most unlikely of places. Sometimes, I’m told, even up

trees. They will help you to avoid making any enormous cultural

bloopers, make you aware of any prevailing ethnological sensitivities and

generally help bash your questions into shape. I’m sure they’d be happy to help in future, given adequate levels of bribery.

7th Floor, 5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3BF, UK

www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment

Author: Jack Westhead I I GSMA Mobile for Development